


After

by sleepyCJwritesSTUFFnow



Category: Biohazard | Resident Evil (Gameverse)
Genre: Angst, Angst and Feels, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Eventual Happy Ending, Eventual Romance, F/F, F/M, Family, Family Feels, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, aeon - Freeform, and it's lovely, annette survives raccoon city with sherry, eventual chris and sheva, eventual valveiera, the birkins deserved better, there's a lot of team effort from the people who survived raccoon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-01
Updated: 2021-03-04
Packaged: 2021-03-13 08:48:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,236
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29773647
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sleepyCJwritesSTUFFnow/pseuds/sleepyCJwritesSTUFFnow
Summary: Annette Birkin managed to escape Raccoon City with her daughter, Claire, and a handful of others but the future was anything but certain. If anything, things seemed to be even more confusing than they had been before.
Relationships: Annette Birkin/William Birkin, Carlos Oliveira/Jill Valentine, Leon S. Kennedy/Ada Wong, Rebecca Chambers/Claire Redfield, Sheva Alomar/Chris Redfield
Kudos: 7





	1. Chapter 1

Annette had never felt more distant from her own body.

Everything around her was becoming more and more blurry, so blurry that it was easier for her to just squeeze her eyes shut than to fight the waves of nausea that washed over her when they were open. She knew just enough to be aware of Sherry screaming back at Claire to hurry. Claire, the young woman carrying her now. Every so often, Annette felt hyper aware of her body limp against the young woman’s muscular arms, only to feel separated and numbed from the acute pain in her side only a few seconds later. They only had ten minutes to get out of the labs, and her head was starting to pound so badly that Annette was almost sure that time had already passed. She couldn’t tell much anymore. All she could hear anymore was the horrid ringing in her ears, the pounding of Claire’s running footsteps, Sherry’s distant yells for them to catch up, and the shrill cries of the alarm system. It was overwhelming, a complete attack on the senses, and nothing short of horrible.

It wasn’t just Annette, either. Claire tightened her hold around her while she finally met Sherry outside of the laboratory building, the sirens of the alarm system still blaring and declaring that the building would destruct in just two minutes. Looking around, her entire body shaking, Claire immediately started towards an abandoned police car just a few feet away. She nearly tripped down the stairs of the laboratory building but only skidded, and she managed to get to the car with Sherry only a few feet behind her. With one hand, Claire ripped the master key Leon had stolen earlier and jammed it into the driver’s door. Sherry pulled it open and started mashing the buttons to unlock the rest of the doors, all but diving into the back of the car and curling into herself just seconds after she buckled herself in. Claire rushed around to the other side and gently set Annette into the passenger seat, quickly pulling the seatbelt over her. Then, she darted back over to the driver’s side, jammed the key into the ignition, and pulled out from the area quickly.

There was one hospital in the area still open, according to Leon, who had apparently gotten the word from Ada. Claire gritted her teeth. Ada was sketchy as hell, and Sherry had seemed terrified of her. If this weren’t true and a trap to kill Annette, or her, or Sherry, Claire vowed that she would find her brother and use him to track down Ada and rip out her teeth (or worse). The day had already been shitty enough, and the idea of things getting any worse was too damn upsetting to even think about. She tried not to think too hard about how uncomfortable and pained Annette sounded, mumbling every so often to her or to Sherry. Claire quickly glanced at the speedometer. 95 MPH. She slowed down a little, seeing the hospital building begin to tower and materialise out from the shadows. The sky was only just beginning to become light, and it was very hazy. Claire could still smell the smoke and she was sure that the flames rising up increasingly far behind her were from the laboratory. Her hands tightened around the steering wheel when she sharply turned into the ER reception, not even bothering to care she was in the fire lane. Seeing the lights were on inside was enough for her to hope there would be someone there.

“Is my mom --” Sherry called after Claire when she jumped out of the car.

“Mommy’s fine, Sherry,” Annette mumbled, dark spots marring her vision. She began shaking when Claire began to pull her out of the car. “I love you, baby.”

Claire resisted the urge to kick the door to the ER open and held it open just long enough for Sherry to run in ahead of her, yelling for anyone to come help her mother. Much to her shock, it wasn’t long before a young woman in a medical coat and scrubs came running down the stairs, her face going pale when she saw Annette in Claire’s arms and Sherry’s state. Claire’s chest began to rise and fall heavily, but it didn’t take long for her to see that this woman wasn’t infected. She followed quickly after her, letting her take over and lay Annette down on a hospital bed in the nearby ICU. Claire could barely believe how quickly the woman worked to hook Annette onto the machines and to get her on a ventilator and IV. Sherry sat down next to her mother, sobbing uncontrollably and rocking herself, the true seriousness of her mother’s state setting in. Claire locked the doors into the ward, still terrified of any of the zombies from breaking in, and not entirely convinced that there weren’t any in the hospital. She began to pace, though her limbs ached, and her mind was reeling, so much so that she didn’t realise she was being spoken to.

“Claire Redfield, right?” The woman said, reading quickly over Annette’s vitals. “Chris’ little sister?”

Claire almost fell over when she turned on her heel towards her. “How would you know that?” She blurted out. “Did I --”

“No, don’t worry, you didn’t say anything,” The woman sighed heavily and looked to Sherry. “Do you have the same blood type as her, by chance? This ID,” She gestured to the ID card still attached to Annette’s lab coat. “It’s exceedingly rare, and --”

“She does,” Annette croaked out, her voice almost no more than a faint whisper. “She’s my daughter.”

The woman nodded and turned back to Sherry. “May I take some blood from you to transfuse? She desperately needs it.”

Sherry nodded immediately, her eyes puffy from the tears, but Claire cut in.

“She had the G-Virus,” She told the woman. “What if she gave it to --”

“She was clear,” Annette barely got out. “Clear...back in the...lab.”

The woman stood up quickly and ran over to the medical cart on the other side of the room, prepping the blood bag and needles while she walked back over, pushing the cart with her. Within a few minutes, she sterilized the needles and took Sherry’s arm. As quickly and gently as she could, the woman cleaned the area around the vein, steadying her hands and holding the young girl’s arm still. Then, slowly, she began to draw blood from her and the bag quickly started to fill. The woman tensed upon seeing Annette’s vitals start to waver again but maintained her training, waiting until it was safe to pull the needle out of Sherry’s arm and bandage it up. Then, she stood up again, walked around to the other side of Annette, sterilised the secondary IV needle, numbed and cleaned the area near her vein, and then quickly pushed the needle into her. Annette groaned, her entire body in terrible pain. She winced when the woman pushed the sides of her coat away from her and pulled up her shirt to where she had been stabbed in the side by William, letting out another pained cry when the woman applied rubbing alcohol and prepared to start stitching it up.

“This may hurt a little,” The woman warned her, speaking softly. “I’m so sorry. Luckily, though, this appears to be your worst injury….the others should be more manageable once you’re a little more stable.”

“Is mommy going to be okay?” Sherry sniffed.

“Yes,” Claire kindly told her, setting a hand reassuringly to her shoulder.

“I am doing my best,” The woman told her. “I hope so.”

Claire watched her begin the stitches, grimacing a little when she saw the pained look that flashed over Annette’s face every so often. She told herself that it wasn’t weird for this woman to know her name, yet something in her mind persisted. Did she know her, by chance? It sounded like she at least might have known Chris at some point. Claire swallowed hard, looking at her closely and then her eyes went wide in stunned recognition. Sherry sniffled again and looked up at her when she felt Claire’s hand tighten around her shoulder, her nails digging into her shoulder. Her stomach was starting to rumble and the blood being taken from her only made her feel a lot more dizzy. She reached into the pocket of Claire’s jacket, her pulling out a small bag of trail mix. Claire gave her a small smile and opened them for her. She was hungry too, but she was almost certain she would be able to find something edible (and safe) in the hospital somewhere. Besides, she reminded herself, Sherry had been through enough already for one night.

“You’re Rebecca Chambers?” Claire finally snapped back to her train of thought. The woman briefly looked up from stitching to nod shortly. “I thought everyone from STARS had left the city. Chris --”

“Chris left yesterday night after getting into a fight with Chief Irons,” Rebecca told her, pausing to refocus and keep stitching up Annette’s wound. “I’m pretty sure that I’m the only member of Bravo Team to have survived the shit that went down at the mansion…..as for Alpha Team, I think all of them but Brad survived. Jill went to DC, last I heard, Barry went back to Texas to be safe with his family, and I don’t know about Wesker. Frankly, I hope he’s dead.”

“I do...too,” Annette groaned, quietly swearing when Rebecca continued her stitches.

“What’d he do?” Claire’s brow furrowed, and she glanced uncomfortably between Annette and Rebecca. “Chris seemed pretty annoyed with him when we last talked before I came into the city, but --”

“He was involved in creating several Bio-Organic Weapons, including the T-Virus,” Rebecca coldly told her, eyes narrowing at her handiwork. “Those BOWs are exactly why we’re in this situation now, and if you don’t want to kill him, I’m sure your brother and the rest of STARS will be more than willing to do it for you. Believe me, he has more than earned it.”

Claire bit her lip. “Great,” She muttered. “But --”

“For the time being, if you don’t mind, could you allow me to finish this before I try and explain anything else?” Rebecca let out a heavy sigh and looked back to Annette’s vitals, a flash of relief flooding over her to see that they were slowly beginning to stabilise. “I need to focus.”

Claire fell silent and looked away, feeling queasy just seeing the needle thread in and out of Annette’s side. Sherry was still curled into herself, nibbling slowly on the trail mix. She was starting to feel a little better, and knowing she was safe now helped a lot. Still, she watched her mother and one of her hands was twined tightly in hers. Whenever Annette seemed upset, Sherry squeezed her mother’s hand and tears pricked at her eyes when her mother squeezed hers weakly back. Claire brushed the tears away from her eyes with a tissue from Rebecca’s medical cart, and she silently prayed for Annette to survive. She couldn’t even remember the last time she had prayed for anything but, right now, she wanted her to survive more than she wanted to leave the city, yell at her brother, and never come back. Sherry had already lost her father. The last thing Claire wanted her to have to go through was losing her mother too. It was so strange how protective she felt of this child she had only just met thirteen hours ago, but she did. Claire rubbed at the side of her neck where it was starting to swell, deciding that, perhaps, it was just a maternal instinct, rushing up because of the circumstances.

“Alright,” Rebecca tightly closed Annette’s stitches and examined them closely before wrapping gauze dipped in rubbing alcohol tightly around her midsection to keep them secure. Annette let out a small yelp of pain from the movements but was able to finally keep her eyes open. The dark spots in her vision were still very much there, but she thought they were getting lesser. “Did that hurt?” Rebecca gently asked.

“A little,” Annette told her, coughing a little, her hand tightening around her daughter’s.

Rebecca frowned but looked back up at her vitals again. “You seem to be starting to stabilize,” She told her. “I need to work quickly on you. All uninfected citizens have been ordered by the federal government and the state national guard to evacuate in two days time. After that, the governor has said he will declare martial law and, essentially, the military is going to come in to clean up the city and take samples of the viruses to the FBI. The last thing I want is for us to get into legal trouble for operating in a hospital in a condemned area.”

“The feds are getting involved?” Claire exclaimed. “Are you fucking kidding?”

Rebecca shook her head. “I wish I were,” She said, tiredly running a hand through her hair. “But I’m only still here because I had a few things I wanted to grab from the hospital before I left. Really, you’re all incredibly lucky. Hopefully by this time tomorrow, she’ll be in halfway decent enough shape to be moved to a different hospital. Chicago is only about an hour and a half away from here….and that’s where I’m hoping to be able to transfer her to.”

“But my mommy is going to be okay, right?” Sherry pressed, scooting her chair as close to her mother as she could and squeezing Annette’s hand again. Annette shifted the little she could to give her daughter a small smile when she squeezed her hand back.

“Like I said, that’s my hope,” Rebecca set her hands to her hips and scanned over the room. “I think she has a decent chance because she was able to get some of your blood, but I’m not going to make any promises. That’s just not how medicine works.”

“For fuck’s sake,” Claire rubbed her temples, briefly closing her eyes. “Why did this have to happen? This wasn’t what I had thought would happen when I decided I’d come visit my brother.”

“It wasn’t what anyone thought would happen, Claire,” Rebecca told her, trying to keep the edge out of her voice. “I just hope we can handle this because this city is  _ over _ . It just is.”

“That’s what I should have realised,” Annette whispered, her voice cracking. “Do you have water?”

Rebecca nodded. “Of course. I’ll go get you some and a bit of food. You need it.”

Claire watched her leave, part of her wanting to go after her but staying beside Sherry and Annette instead. Her mind was still so foggy and reeling that nothing felt quite real. It didn’t make sense. Nothing did, at least not in this moment. It was maddening.

“Mommy loves you, Sherry,” Annette blinked back tears when Sherry stood up and kissed her cheek. “I really do, baby. You’re always going to be my baby girl. Okay, Sherry-bean?”

Sherry set down her trail mix and embraced her mother the best she could.

“I love you too, mommy,” Sherry mumbled. “Live. I need you to be here.”

“I will,” Annette told her. “I promise.”

Claire smiled, an unusual sense of hope blooming in her chest.

“She will,” Claire told Sherry, patting her shoulder. “She’s strong….and Rebecca won’t let her die.”

She couldn’t explain where the confidence came from, but she accepted it. She needed hope. They all did.


	2. Chapter 2

Much to her surprise, when she woke up, Claire realised she had slept through the night. She couldn’t quite remember what the last time she had seen was, but, when she saw the time on her watch when she awoke, it was around 10:22 in the morning. Just seconds later, she was mentally kicking herself and all but threw the thin sheets aside to check on Annette, who was nearby. Sherry was too, curled up next to her mother in the small hospital bed on her uninjured side. Relief washed over Claire the second she saw the light rise and fall of Annette’s chest while she slept, and the stability that seemed to have started to return to her vitals during the night. She smiled a little, too, when she saw that one of Annette’s arms was over Sherry, as if she were protecting her daughter even in her sleep. Feeling the start of a light headache, though, Claire looked around for her bag, quickly finding it on one of the carts near where she had slept, and pulling an energy bar out of it, slowly munching on it in thought while she continued to wake up.

She was surprised not to see Rebecca in the room with them. She had been there when, Claire assumed, they had all fallen asleep. Disappointment, followed by a brief wave of fear, crashed over her. The fear, at least, dissipated almost as quickly as it had arrived. Claire knew Rebecca wouldn’t be crazy (or, read: like her brother) enough to try and leave the hospital with the way things were right now, or before they knew Annette would be okay. They had to move her in just another day, after all, and almost immediately everything felt heavier for her. Claire sighed, glancing back to Annette and Sherry, and tried to focus on the fact that both of them were both still alright and sleeping soundly. For now, they didn’t have to worry about much. They were going to get out of the city. They were going to get to Chicago. It would be fine, because it all had to be. And, of course, Claire was very much going to kill (read: scream like a banshee) at Chris when she saw him again for not warning her about what coming into the city meant she was getting into.

“Fuck you, Chris,” Claire muttered, taking another bite out of her energy bar. “You really thought I wouldn’t notice that shit was going down here? Could have called me at home before you left, bastard.”

She jumped upon hearing the doors open but she relaxed when she saw it was only Rebecca, who was dragging a cart laden with medical supplies, food, and, a bit surprisingly, new clothes. Claire shifted a little to stretch out her arms before starting to nibble on her energy bar again. She couldn’t take her eyes off Rebecca while she sorted out the supplies she had brought in; even when she had just been locking up the ICU ward again, Claire found herself drawn to her. Knowing that she probably knew, thanks to Chris’ more gossipy tendencies, quite a bit about her, including, she imagined, a few embarrassing stories from her childhood. Claire tried not to think too hard about that possibility, well aware that her brother had always enjoyed telling people about how she, until she was about four, would run around naked in the summer and jump through their neighbour’s sprinklers, all the while yelling about candy. It was a story that everyone in her family seemed to think was absolutely hysterical, and it was also the very last story Claire had any desire for people she barely knew to have heard.

Besides, the whole time she had been in the police station, the only thing she could think about was how did everyone (except Leon, whom she had been able to introduce herself to) know her _ fucking  _ name?

“Annette’s still not in great shape,” Rebecca told her, almost absentmindedly going sorting through the clothes she had brought in. “I think I’ll be able to move her just fine, but she’s going to be in a lot of pain for awhile and is definitely going to need additional treatment in Chicago. Also, I tested Sherry’s blood. Interestingly, it’s actually O negative, though, of course, that, thankfully, can be given to someone with her mother’s blood type of AB negative. I don’t blame her for feeling fuzzy on the specifics, though. She really is doing much better than when you brought her in last night, but, honestly, she’s incredibly lucky you were able to bring her in when you did.”

Claire swallowed a chunk of her energy bar and then sighed. “So,” She finally said. “Does that mean we’re going to be okay to get out of here?”

“It’s looking like that, yes,” Rebecca met her gaze and offered her a small smile. “I spoke with a few FBI agents and they’re supportive of us leaving tomorrow, as we’ll have about twelve hours before the martial law is instituted in the region and the national guard comes in. As for Annette, I’m really worried about her. She’s been through quite a bit, and, of course, a great deal of that isn’t just physical. I spoke with her a little late last night when she was awake and you and Sherry were asleep….and she was very forthright with me and very upset.”

Claire chewed at the inside of her cheek. “I mean, she lost her husband and had to shoot him multiple times because he mutated himself with G. That’d be hard enough on anyone, even if they didn’t know the person they were shooting.”

Rebecca nodded slowly, pausing and glancing back to where Annette and Sherry were still sleeping. “It wasn’t just that,” She finally said. “William had never meant for G to be dangerous. From what I understand, he was developing it under the direction of Umbrella and was under threat if he did not perform to their standards, which is, again, from what I know, very similar to what happened when he was researching the T-Virus.”

Claire’s eyes went wide in shock. “They were being coerced?”

“At the very least, to some extent, yes, they were,” Rebecca tiredly probed her forehead. “Annette said they were both scared for not only their lives but Sherry’s, and that they knew a rival company was trying to steal it to sell on the black market when the research being done at Umbrella had been contracted by the administration and specifically the head of the department of defense. I suppose it was meant to defend the US against the Russians and Chinese governments as well as from some….insurgent groups that are starting to pop up in the Middle East.”

Claire considered that. “Honestly, since the commies definitely haven’t gone away in Russia even if the USSR has dissolved, that’s a fair concern.”

“Agreed,” Rebecca said grimly. “But, whoever it was that wanted the G-Virus for their own purposes, sent people to attack and kill William….which, arguably, they succeeded at in the sense that he injected himself with G to survive without it being...well...safe. I’m not defending what he did or how he acted in his paranoia to keep the virus as secret as possible, but I will say that it’s clear, to me, that he adored Annette and Sherry and was acting to protect them with little regard for what would happen to him.”

Claire took another look at Sherry and Annette, blinking back tears. “Yeah,” She said numbly. “All of this has just been horrible for everyone involved.”

Rebecca nodded. “You know, with what happened to Will,” She slowly went on. “I think it’s also tied to the way he was put on a pedestal, too, what with having earned his doctorate at sixteen and all. It’s incredibly sad, and the way he died….it was horrible. No one, especially acting for what he was, should have to die that way even if they were messing with things that really ought not be messed with the way he was.”

"Yeah," Claire closed her eyes for a few seconds to regain herself. "This whole thing is just a damn shame, and there's not much we can do about it now…..which is what makes it worse."

"Precisely," Rebecca replied, standing up and handing her a small pile of clothes. "Hopefully those are your size. I was guessing and in a bit of a rush but I don't want you guys to have to stay in your dirty clothes for the next few days."

"Thanks," Claire took in the scent and chuckled a little. "Does the hospital wash things in lavender?"

"It's not policy," Rebecca admitted, rubbing at the still sore spot on her neck. "But it promotes calmness and relaxation, something we're all going to desperately need. The Department of Defense is probably going to be furious at Wesker for being the perpetrator and mastermind behind this but, at the end of the day, they're still going to have to launch an investigation into his possible…..role in espionage, extortion, etc."

"It's crazy that all of this just feels like a mob drama," Claire muttered, taking a minute to finish eating her energy bar. When she was done, she quickly started to change into the clean clothes while Rebecca turned back to Annette and Sherry. "I mean, sounds to me like Wesker operated the way a mobster would. Hell, maybe he even knows who killed Jimmy Hoffa."

Rebecca glanced towards her with raised eyebrows, almost amused. "It wouldn't be completely out of character for him," She said, a faint smirk briefly flashing over her face. "But, whether he really is a mobster or just acts like one, that's probably not true in this instance."

Claire almost started laughing and began to respond but cut herself off upon seeing Annette fidget in her sleep and starting to mumble. Concerned, Rebecca immediately began to look over her vitals again, looking beyond relieved to see that they were stable. Sherry was still curled up tightly against her mother and deeply asleep, and seeming more at ease and peaceful than she had since they had come in. It was bittersweet, knowing that mother and daughter were together and alright for now, yet were going to have so much to come to terms with when they woke up. They probably would for ages, too. Annette had lost her husband to his own work and fear of those above them in the company, and Sherry knew all of it, had witnessed a great deal of it, and had lost a parent. Knowing that she was only twelve made it all the more difficult. Rebecca looked back to Claire, their eyes meeting for a few seconds before they both quickly began to work on continuing to get shit together before either Annette or Sherry woke up. They both knew how bad things were and Rebecca realised, for the first time in her life, she truly hated another human being and that was the man ultimately responsible for it all: Wesker.

"Don't hurt Sherry," Annette mumbled in her foggy sleep, not close enough to be able to wake up but no longer in deep or REM sleep either. "Let us go….we never..we….we…"

"They never wanted this," Rebecca softly finished, taking another cursory look at her vitals. They were still stable. "And, in a better world, they never would have ended up in this position to begin with."

* * *

"Kennedy, I can't --"

"We need to do this, Ada! If we don't, Wesker --"

"Your government is already getting involved! I'm not supposed to exist, Leon! If I were to get involved, my organisation --"

"Those people won't ever have to know!" Leon plopped into one of the rolling chairs on the other side of the small room. "Chris and Jill are going to be here soon, and we're really lucky I was able to get in contact with them once we got out of Illinois. They're both former members of STARS and the girl, Claire, I told you about is Chris' little sister. You don't have to tell them anything you don't want to, but at least let them take a look at your leg."

Ada briefly cast a disdainful look to where her thigh was starting to swell and become infected. "Fine," She said shortly. "But no funny stuff."

Leon put his hands up in surrender. "Got it," He agreed. "No funny stuff."

Only a few seconds after he said this, several quick raps were heard against the door. Ada stiffened, pulling one of the thin blankets around herself, shivering a little. For whatever reason, the heat in the shitty motel was only half working, and it was cold and beginning to become windy outside. Ada glanced at the clock, ticking on the nightstand aside.  _ 9:21 PM _ . She wasn’t tired, or, at least, not as tired as she thought she ought to be considering the circumstances. The last two days -- had she really arrived in Raccoon City on the 27th? -- had been hell and that was especially true of just the past twenty four hours. Running into Leon and managing to escape the city after what happened in the police station and with Umbrella was the only positive thing to come out of the whole affair. For whatever it was worth, Ada got the sense Leon would not turn her in nor would he hurt her. Stranger, though, was the urge she had to curl up beside him. She told herself she was merely craving human contact, but something in her mind was uncertain of that.

_ You haven’t slept in nearly twenty nine hours,  _ her mind whispered,  _ you’re probably just in pain, miserable, and exhausted because of it. _

“Glad you came,” Leon’s voice startled her, at first, until Ada realised she simply must not have noticed him opening the door. “You too, Jill.”

Jill shrugged. “Carlos would have come too, but he’s still heading to DC. The Pentagon wanted to speak with him about the shit he saw from Umbrella.”

“Hard to believe one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world fucked up with biohazards they were researching this badly,” Chris stretched out his arms and set down his guns when he stepped into the room. “I’m pretty pissed with Wesker. Seems like that bastard rigged everything from the start.”

Jill bitterly laughed. “I’m not surprised. He did always have a bit of a God-complex. Besides, you were on STARS too. You never thought he might be a  _ bit  _ of a control freak? Of course he was controlling it all. He manipulated all of us, and he’s probably proud of it.”

“How much you wanna bet Wesker is working with foreign agents?” Chris gave her a pointed look. “You and I know that piece of shit has probably been doing any number of things since the mansion incident. I’d be willing to bet he’s the one behind what happened to Umbrella. You know, a shit ton of people died there just --”

“Get on with your patient,” Jill slammed her heel into his foot. ”She already looks bad enough.”

Ada frowned but said nothing, merely pressing her lips into a flat line.

“It’s in my upper leg,” Ada finally said, pulling back the covers and gesturing to where a rather large piece of metal was still stuck into her leg. “I haven’t pulled it out fully because, frankly, I would prefer not to bleed out.”

“No one wants to,” Chris replied, taking a glimpse at it and slowly starting to tug at the area around it. “Well, okay, then. That’s….not pretty.”

She gave him a dark look. “Because you taking note is so undeniably helpful.”

Chris waited and took another minute to take a look at the injury. It was starting to look infected in several places, especially near where the metal was most deeply lodged in her thigh. Deciding it was loose enough to start removing some of the smaller bits, Chris waved for Leon and Jill to grab him some supplies while he briefly appraised the first area in question. There were several large scabs around the smallest piece, and blood was clearly still swelling underneath. A bit of pus had started to form too, on top of some of the more infected areas. It was a relief knowing it wasn’t viral in any sense of the word; albeit gross, a bacterial infection would be much easier to deal with than a viral one, heaven forbid that being the T-Virus or G-Virus. Ada grunted, gritting her teeth when he began to slowly pull pieces out of the wound. Leon immediately went into the dingy bathroom to grab the first aid supplies he had left in there. Jill watched, bouncing on her toes, her mind still spinning around the seemingly endless amount of questions that had been bothering her for days, now. The unexpected call to the safe house by her former colleague just the night before had only made heightened that sentiment.

“Here’s the gauze and some stitching supplies,” Leon dropped the bag of first aid equipment down on the nightstand right by where Chris was working. “I think there’s a good bit of hydrogen peroxide and alcohol in there if you can use that on the infection.”

“At this point,” Ada let out a sound that could only be described as angry hiss when Chris tugged another piece of metal out of her thigh. “Nothing is going to hurt more than whatever the fuck this is.”

Leon sighed. “Let me get you something to help with the pain,” He said, heading briefly back into the bathroom.

An uneasy silence befell them while Chris reached for the alcohol in the bag, an odd sense of relief washing over him when he confirmed that Leon had not been suggesting he attempt to clean wounds with three fingers of rye.

"You know, I talked to Rebecca on the phone last night," Jill hesitantly interjected, grimacing a little when Chris pulled out what remained of the metal in Ada's thigh. "Your sister is with her. They're leaving Raccoon City tomorrow. Sounds like she delayed it as far as she could to treat Annette and Sherry Birkin. Thank God both of them are okay enough for now."

Ada let out a sound torn between rage and shock. "What?" She exclaimed, sweating loudly while Chris began to examine her wound. "I wanted to do to her what I did to her husband! She's in the way of everything! She can't --"

"Ada, calm down," Leon worriedly passed her a cold towel. "And put that on your leg, it'll help with the sensation."

Ada all but ripped the towel from his hands and let it rest just above where Chris was working on her leg. “I’m going to kill Annette when I see her again,” She muttered. “Whether I have to track her down or not.”

“She --” Leon nervously started.

“You might be conflicted about her, but I am not,” Ada cut across, then leaning back against the pillows and shaking her head. “She has to die.”


	3. Chapter 3

It was cold when Ada limped out into the parking lot of the motel, colder than it was in the room. Leon was still asleep, sprawled out on one of the beds with barely anything covering him. A small smile spread across her lips, surprising her briefly. She had thrown a second cover over him on her way outside. His shirt and sweatpants didn’t look particularly warm and, just her luck, the second heater in the room had gone out about an hour earlier. It had woken her up and, for whatever reason, she couldn’t quite fall back asleep. Ada sighed, watching her breath materialise against the dark night around her while she continued to limp towards her car. Finally, she slipped into it, turned it on, and let herself warm up, her mind reeling almost madly. Her leg still hurt like a bitch, although Chris had done a decent enough job cleaning it out and stitching up the worst parts of it. Yet, even worse than the pain, she was completely compromised and there was absolutely no going back. Ada gritted her teeth, her shivering hands vibrating against the steering wheel in a rhythmic anger.

“I need to get the G,” She glanced out the windows, even though they were still rolled up. “Annette never should have lived. She and William both deserved to die.”

Ada leaned the seat back, stretching herself out the most she could. She was almost numb to the pain in her leg, although even she couldn’t deny how awful it felt when she had to walk. If it lasted more than a couple of days, Ada already knew that she would either (a) break things or (b) have to find strong and possibly illegal medications. Much to her disbelief, she could already hear Leon admonishing her for even considering that option. Her lips pursed into a frown and her eyebrows knitted together. She barely knew the man, after all, and, though she hadn’t been able to find it in her to kill him for G, there was nothing else to that than weakness. At least, that was what she told herself. Leon was quite the predicament, and just the thought of him made her nervous. There was certainly something magnetic about him. It was the strangest feeling, in every manner of the word.  _ Am I becoming delirious from blood loss? _ She wanted to shudder at the thought but couldn’t. It was finally becoming too damn warm in the car, but she didn’t want to leave it quite yet. She didn’t want to leave Leon quite yet either. Knowing that, somewhere deep in the back of her mind, was what frightened her the most.

_ Tap. Tap. Tap. _

Ada jumped and reached over to grab her gun, pointing it out the window and lowering the window quickly. She narrowed her eyes when she saw it was Jill. She took a step back from the car, still staring down the barrel of Ada’s gun. A few seconds passed between them with no movement and in near silence. Then, eventually, Ada deftly gestured to the passenger side of her car with her gun and rolled up the window. Taking the hint, Jill shuffled to the other side of the car quickly, her hands jammed into her coat pocket. Ada said nothing to her when she climbed in, and barely even paid any attention to her presence for several minutes, instead staring off into the night, her eyes narrowing every time she saw a car pass by. Without asking, Jill was almost sure what she was looking for. More specifically, she knew  _ whom  _ she was waiting for. Jill sighed, not quite sure what to make of the woman. In some ways, it was almost frightening. Everything seemed to be a fight for her, and the way she had lashed out just the night before had taken her aback.

“Are you okay?” Jill finally brought herself to say something. “You probably shouldn’t sleep in your car, if that’s what you’re planning.”

Ada snorted. “I’d prefer not to get carbon monoxide poisoning,” She coldly replied. “You don’t need to worry about me. Leon already is doing that.”

Jill smiled. “That’s sweet of him,” She blinked in surprise upon seeing Ada close her eyes and sigh. “Are you not happy about that?”

“My job is not one about fostering connexions,” Ada did not open her eyes but her hands reached up to rub her temples. “It’s really quite the opposite. That isn’t how things have gone with this particular job, and that is a very dangerous thing.”

“More dangerous than what’s already happening?” Jill shifted to look at her more directly. “How is that possible? The government is coming down hard on Umbrella and they’re going to bomb Raccoon City because of this! How is --”

“The government is not what you should be afraid of,” Ada told her. “It’s what’s beyond it that should be.”

Jill stared at her in confusion. “I don’t get it.”

“Look,” Ada finally opened her eyes again. “Umbrella has issues -- many of which are and have been funded directly by the Department of Defense since the company’s founding in the sixties -- but some of its issues have given way for much more serious entities.”

“I know the DOD funded a lot of the bio-organic weapons research, but I doubt….” Jill trailed off, chewing at the inside of her cheek. “Well, I obviously don’t know what the situation is, but --”

“You are not going to understand,” Ada raised her hand to silence her. “It’s far more complicated than you’re going to be able to give it credit for. And,” She finally looked at her, eyes narrowed. “It is exactly why the Birkins needed to die.”

Jill hesitated. “I know they --”

“You don’t,” Ada bluntly replied. “And you aren’t going to.”

Jill stared at her in silence, not sure what to say, and not sure what even to think.

“You were a member of STARS,” Ada broke the silence, her voice much more careful than before. “When you received orders, you had to have known there would be consequences to not carrying them out exactly as prescribed.”

“I suppose,” Jill eyed her for a few seconds. “Even so, there were plenty of times where the consequence of carrying out orders would have killed us. At the mansion --”

“Yes, I know,” Ada sighed. “Wesker knew what he was doing. Evidently, all of you knew better. At least, that’s what I heard.”

Jill raised an eyebrow but then shook her head. “You must hear a lot,” She said, leaning back herself. “I guess it goes without saying. Given what you do, after all.”

Ada snorted. “I work for the FBI. It isn’t that remarkable.”

“Sure,” Jill dryly agreed. “The ‘FBI’ for sure.”

Ada shot her a dirty look but said nothing. Absentmindedly, her hand reached up to touch her shoulder where Annette had shot her.  _ No one is getting their hands on G. _ That couldn’t be true. Everything had suggested she and William were going to sell it to the US government for protection. Everything had suggested that they had never intended for it to be used by Umbrella. It was laughable. Ada pursed her lips. They clearly hadn’t been thinking, clearly had been desperate, and clearly obsessed with protecting their daughter. Had they honestly believed that completing the development of the virus would earn them protection? Or had they been paralysed by fear and too damn curious for their own good? Silently, Ada imagined it was a combination of both. William and Annette had always seemed obsessed with knowing everything they could, no matter what it was but, evidently, they had never learned. William’s death, so far as Ada was concerned, proved that.

_ “Enough!” Ada had snapped. “With this cat and mouse game!” _

_ “The game’s over,” Annette had coldly told her. “You lost.” _

_ “Tell me,” Ada had hissed, her eyes narrow. This woman would cost her everything if she couldn’t kill her or, at the very least, get the virus. “Is your husband still alive?” _

_ Annette had flinched. Ada rolled her eyes, stepping closer towards where she was. Annette had always been good at running. For once, Ada needed her not to be. _

_ “Or did you kill him?” Ada had continued her taunt. Annette's guard was starting to drop. She was going to slip soon. It was almost amusing. She loved William and their daughter too much, too much for her own good. “So you could take credit for G?” _

_ Annette had gritted her teeth. “Interesting theory.” _

_ Ada had dove out of the way of the machinery coming her way. Annette couldn’t possibly be this supid. _

_ “If you don’t cooperate,” Ada had yelled. “I’ll get a sample from the NEST!” _

_ Annette had taken in a sharp breath. “Over my dead body.” _

“Ada?” Jill lightly snapped her fingers in front of her face. “We should probably get back into the motel. And, besides….you seem exhausted.”

Ada glanced to her but then nodded. “Perhaps sleep is called for.”

Jill stretched herself out. “Good,” She said with a small laugh. “We’ve earned it.”

* * *

“Is mommy going to be okay?” Sherry leaned forward from the back of the car, looking at Claire. “What if we can’t get --”

“We’ll get to Chicago fine,” Claire told her, turning from where she was in the passenger seat to reassuringly pat the young girl’s hands. “Annette is going to be fine. I promise.”

Sherry watched while Claire looked over to where Annette was, all but cocooned in the several blankets Rebecca had insisted she keep around herself. It was almost impressive how well they stayed in place, though the seatbelt certainly helped. Still, Annette did not look great. She was still incredibly pale and weak. She had tried to walk before leaving the city but couldn’t even stand up. Rebecca, at least, had been able to help her shower and change into soft, looser clothes before they had left but it was hard to watch. Seeing how worried for her mother Sherry was, too, only made things worse. Annette, now, was resting her head against the small pillow Rebecca had given her, which was pressed into the window. Her hands shook in her lap, and she closed her eyes every so often while they continued to pass mile markers and press on down the highway. Sherry scooted as close to her mother as possible, and she would reach over to pat her hands or he inimitable ad, her eyes wide in worry.

“How are you feeling, Annette?” Rebecca briefly peered up at her through the rearview mirror. “Do you need anything? We’re about an hour out of Chicago.”

“I…” Annette hesitated, her voice still weak. “I’ll be fine.”

Sherry tried to hug her mother the best she could. “Mommy --”

“I’m here, Sherry,” Annette gently ruffled her daughter’s hair. “Mommy’s here.”

Sherry nodded, and then yawned. Feeling her shift, Annette lightly tapped her daughter, knowing she was falling asleep and that she wouldn’t be able to support her weight against her. Sherry gave her mother another hug and then leaned back over to her side, startled for a moment by the seatbelt snapping her back all the way. Annette immediately looked to her, her heart racing for a few seconds in fear. Sherry shook out her arms and gave her mother a smile, yawning again and curling up against the side of the car. The sound of the road and the mostly-quited radio quickly lulled her to sleep, though this was by no means difficult, considering that she hadn’t slept much since what had happened and certainly not since they had finished the last bit of preparation before leaving the hospital that morning. Claire half read a novel she had found stashed in the door, but she looked back at Annette and Sherry often. Most of the time, she noticed Annette watching Sherry; sometimes worriedly and other times looking about ready to cry. Rebecca tried not to be obvious about it, but she stole several looks at Claire, smiling a little on the few occasions their eyes met. It was the only levity she had; otherwise, the atmosphere in the car was tensely worried.

“You’re going to be able to start over with your daughter,” Rebecca spoke softly, clicking on the windshield wipers while rain began to pick up. “I know this is hard, Annette. If you want to talk -- about any of it -- then feel free to. I can’t even begin to imagine what you’re going through.”

Claire glanced towards her in surprise but said nothing. Annette sighed, closing her eyes again for about a minute. Then, she spoke:

“They were always going to kill us,” She whispered, her voice wavering. “I think...some part of me always knew that and Will did too.”

Claire whipped around, stunned. “What do you mean?”

“I mean that…” Annette trailed off, starting to cry and staring down at her hands. “They knew we were distracted by work. They knew Will and I were working with the Pentagon -- they must have -- and they planned this….all of it. If it weren’t for...without them, Will would still be alive. He never would have….he’d never have used G. We’d still…”

Claire bit her lip when she saw Annette’s gaze fall on Sherry’s locket.

“You really loved him.”

Annette blinked back more tears. “We were hoping to escape,” She said quietly. “Escape with Sherry, be protected because we had been able to do...to do what we’d always meant to with G. It was never...it was never supposed to be in the hands of anyone but the Pentagon. He and I were going to be safe. Sherry would be too and….we were even hoping to have another baby. To heal, that is.”

Rebecca looked at her through the mirror again. “I’m sorry, Annette,” She said, her fingers lightly tapping against the steering wheel. “I’m glad you and Sherry are still safe, but….I know it won’t be the same without William.”

Annette glanced back out the window at the rain, tears continuing to prick at her eyes. “I should have shot him when I found him, when he injected himself with G.”

“He was your husband,” Claire kindly said. “It’s more than understandable. You loved him, and --”

“I still should have known better,” Annette said, her voice barely audible. “I wish he hadn’t tried that….I could have….I would have been able to help him if he had just waited a little longer --”

“Annette,” Rebecca gently cut in. “You both knew they were planning to kill you. He probably….with that in mind, that is, he may have thought you were already dead. I know that may not help, but I think he was desperate and distraught….I didn’t know him well, of course, but, the few times I did speak with him, it was clear how much he loved you.”

Annette said nothing though she started to sob, burying her face in her hands. Claire watched her closely, worried that she was going to make the trouble she was already having breathing worse. Rebecca began to slow, turning off the highway at an exit and starting into a small town that looked to be largely strip malled. Her nerves rising in her chest again, Rebecca glanced at the fill level: near empty. With an irritated sigh, she coasted into a gas station with a mini mart and pulled up in front of the only empty petrol pump. She unbuckled herself and turned back, reaching over to set a hand to Annette’s shoulder. Annette startled struggling to steady her shallow breath, but slowly did, especially when she saw Sherry starting to stir. After a minute, Rebecca let go and swung her feet down onto the pavement and ignored the sideways looks that she got while she walked around to shove the nozzle into her truck. Tiredness was starting to wash over her in waves, and she leaned against the side of her truck, arms crossed. She closed her eyes for a few seconds before resigning herself to looking at the small screen displaying the gallons and price. She turned suddenly in surprise, however, upon hearing one of the doors open and someone step out.

“Hey,” Claire walked quickly around, her hands jammed into the pockets of her jeans. “You want me to run in and get you something? I’m going to take Sherry in so she can use the bathroom and get some snacks. You okay staying here with Annette?”

Rebecca nodded. “Sure. Just make it quick. I want to get her to Chicago as soon as possible.”

“Of course,” Claire gave her a small smile. “And, like I said, you need anything?”

Rebecca smiled. “I wouldn’t mind a caramel coffee,” She told her, stretching out her arms a little. “And maybe some candy.”

Claire winked and gave her a thumbs up. “Got it!”

Rebecca watched her all but run back around the car to help Sherry out. The two of them quickly slipped into the mini mart, and it wasn’t until she heard the loud click of the pump shutting off that Rebecca came back to herself. Barely even paying attention, she reached into her pocket and pulled out her credit card, swiping it through and then pulling the nozzle out of her truck and shoving it back in the pump. She looked around, worried someone might be following or watching them, but finding nothing. Probing her forehead, she tried to set that sense aside, telling herself it was just the lingering fear from everything that had happened in Raccoon City.  _ So much for a great career in law enforcement. _ Chewing at the inside of her cheek, Rebecca finally hopped back into her truck and shut the door, though she didn’t start it quite yet and instead turned back to Annette again. Annette met her gaze, her eyes puffy from tears but also from the swelling and bruises under them.

“How are you feeling?” Rebecca rubbed her neck, glancing back to the mini mart. “Sherry and Claire are going to be back in a few minutes.”

“Good,” Annette shivered a little even under her blankets. “I hope she’ll be okay. Sherry never should have had to go through this.”

“You shouldn’t have had to either,” Rebecca watched her for a moment and then shook her head. “I know this is hard on you both, and it’s….it’s a damn shame. Alright? But she’s still lucky to have you, she really is. You’re going to be able to restart with her...even if you’re struggling to see that right now.”

Annette nodded weakly. “I’m still worried about her,” She said quietly. “I won’t feel better until we get rid of the G.”

“I’ll keep it hidden,” Rebecca pulled the small vial out of her pants pocket. “I have to ask, though. Why did you hide the sample in Sherry’s locket?”

“Will and I knew no one would think it would be with her,” She breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing Sherry skip out of the mini mart with Claire. “And we were right….I just wish we had a little more time to leave NEST. If we had….maybe things wouldn’t have gotten this bad.”

Rebecca started to respond but was cut off by the doors swinging open and Claire and Sherry both climbing back in. Sherry set down her bag of snacks and climbed over to hug her mother before buckling herself back in.

“You look tired, mommy.” Sherry watched her worriedly while Rebecca began to pull out of the gas station. “You’re okay, right?”

“I’m fine, baby,” Annette reached over and squeezed her hand. “Just have your snack. You know how much harder it is for you to think when you’re hungry.”

Sherry nodded. “Okay, mommy,” She reached down and started nibbling on a cracker, staring at their family picture in her locket. “I wish daddy had been like you.”

“Oh, Sherry, don’t say things like that --” Annette started.

“You saved me,” Sherry blinked back tears. “You and Claire. I just wish he had tried too.”

“He did, Sherry,” Annette whispered, tears rising in her eyes again. “He just….he just lost. I almost...I thought I was going to as well.”

“Shhh,” Claire tried to comfort her. “You did everything you could, Annette.”

Annette glanced to her. “It doesn’t matter,” She said, rubbing her eyes. “It wasn’t enough.”


End file.
